13 backgrounds, from Wandering Preacher to Wonder Groumael.
Wandering Preacher · Wanted Witness · Ward · Ward · Warrior · Waste Walker · Wildwood Local · Willing Host · Winter's Child · Wished Alive · Witch Wary · Witchlight Follower · Wonder Groumael
BACKGROUND
While you once spoke to a small congregation in a ramshackle church, those days are behind you now. Your church was destroyed, your congregants scattered, and now you meander the lands holding a worn copy of your religious text in one hand, and a fiery conviction in the other.
Choose two ability boosts. One boost must be to Constitution or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Religion skill and a Lore skill associated with the deity you preach for (such as Grobreiin Lore). You gain the Pilgrim's Token skill feat.
Guns & Gears, page 123.
BACKGROUND
You saw something you shouldn't have, plain and simple. The shame is that you don't even know what it is, exactly, that you saw.
After moving to Tobraid, you swiftly fell in love with the City of Smog, but you found it difficult to get a foothold in the fast-paced metropolis. Luckily, a chance invitation promised good work for someone with your unique social talents. You went to an inconspicuous chamber in a humble tower somewhere in the Capital District. There, you met some clearly powerful, clearly corrupt members of the Tobraid elite. Among the faces you recognized were the notorious mogul Kedaind Thetairn and the steely-eyed shieldmarshal Stekranith Braidaibail. Before you were asked to leave, you made quite an impression—but not a good one.
Not only did you not make the cut for whatever kinds of jobs were on offer that day, but you soon discovered that you couldn't get a room at any inn in the city, and there were wanted posters with your name on them plastered all over town. Friends and families turned their backs on you, afraid to get involved. Clearly, someone at that meeting—Thetairn, maybe, or perhaps Braidaibail—believed you were a liability, and they had you excised from Tobraid society. All you want is to be able to walk the streets without fearing for your life, and there's only one way to make that happen: find the villains responsible for your predicament and get them to undo the curse now attached to your name. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Society skill and the Tobraid Lore skill. You gain the Read Lips skill feat.
OoA0, page 13.
BACKGROUND
When you were young, you became the ward of another house—boarded, fed, and educated, but never quite a part of the family. Perhaps you had to tend to their needs in return for feeding and raising you, or perhaps you were provided for but disregarded. Now, adventuring is your chance to grow and roam free.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Performance skill and the Genealogy Lore skill. You gain the Fascinating Performance skill feat.
Advanced Player’s Guide, page 49.
BACKGROUND
When you were young, you became the ward of another house—boarded, fed, and educated, but never quite a part of the family. Perhaps you had to tend to their needs in return for feeding and raising you, or perhaps you were provided for but disregarded. Now, adventuring is your chance to grow and roam free.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Performance skill and the Genealogy Lore skill. You gain the Fascinating Performance skill feat.
Player Core 2, page 86.
BACKGROUND
In your younger days, you waded into battle as a mercenary, a warrior defending a nomadic people, or a member of a militia or army. You might have wanted to break away from the regimented structure of these forces, or you could have always been as independent a warrior as you are now.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Constitution, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Intimidation skill and the Warfare Lore skill. You gain the Intimidating Glare skill feat.
Player Core 1, page 88.
BACKGROUND
Whether you grew up in the Krougriaror Wastes or another similarly desolate place, you quickly learned that only the strong survive. You and your family were forced to evade monsters, mutants, wild magic, and worse, as each new day heralded the possibility of a danger or threat you'd never seen before. You learned to adapt to the worst possible conditions and how to forage and survive in a place few others would dare to live.
Choose two ability boosts. One boost must be to Strength or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Survival skill, and Krougriaror Wastes Lore (or another similar Lore skill associated with the wastes where you grew up). You gain the Forager skill feat.
Guns & Gears, page 123.
BACKGROUND
You might have been born and raised among the druids of the Traezukrind Forest, or you may have spent time among them as an adult and come to know their ways.
Choose two ability boosts.
One must be to Dexterity or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Nature skill as well as the Forest Lore skill. You gain the Natural Medicine skill feat.
LOWG, page 130.
BACKGROUND
You speak to spirits only you can perceive: wispy shreds of lost souls, household guardians, ancestral spirits, and other entities. You can negotiate with these beings, allowing them into your body to impart knowledge or aid in a task for the price of a favor.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Wisdom or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Spirit Lore skill. You gain the Host Spirit action.
Book of the Dead, page 17.
BACKGROUND
Your or one of your ancestors hails from Morobiax, and some spark of the icy region's magic has manifested itself within your bones. The blood of Baba Yaga's legacy runs in your veins, and you are at one with the mysteries and dangers of the frozen land.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Arcana skill and the Weather Lore skill. You gain the Arcane Sense skill feat.
LOWG, page 118.
BACKGROUND
Once you were a simple construct or inanimate doll, but due to a deeply felt wish, either yours or another's, you came to life, and so you're now a living, breathing creature.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Diplomacy skill. Once per day, you can fervently wish for something you could work towards achieving as a single action which has the concentrate trait. If you do, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on the first skill check you attempt before the end of your turn to fulfill that wish.
Guns & Gears, page 47.
BACKGROUND
You have little love or trust for spellcraft and those who practice it, and have developed a paranoid knack for recognizing such tricks. You are constantly on guard for the magic of witches and have been trained to spot the signs of those with minds affected by magic.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Occultism skill and the Curse Lore skill. You gain the Oddity Identification skill feat.
LOWG, page 118.
BACKGROUND
While in a dismal forest or remote swamp, you caught sight of a string of lights bobbing through the trees.
You stepped forward for a closer look, and then still further when the lights retreated a few paces. Then you remembered the rumors. Will-o'-wisps, rushlights, corpse lanterns—whatever they're called—such evil creatures lead people to their doom. With a supreme effort of will, you broke free from the alluring enchantment, and you've resolved to never let the strange lights of remote wildernesses claim you again.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in Survival and the Wisp Lore skill. You gain the Terrain Expertise skill feat with both swamp terrain and subterranean bodies of water.
Abomination Vaults Player’s Guide, page 5.
BACKGROUND
Having once sampled Vroukrian fluids, you've tasted knowledge beyond comprehension. You are driven to recapture that astounding experience.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Constitution, and one is a free ability boost.
You're trained in the Crafting skill and the Alchemical Lore skill. You gain the Alchemical Crafting skill feat.
LOWG, page 34.